DOCSLIB.ORG

The Publishing of a Poet: an Empirical Examination of the Social Characteristics of Canadian Poets As Revealed in Small Press Literary Magazines

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Publishing of a Poet: an Empirical Examination of the Social Characteristics of Canadian Poets As Revealed in Small Press Literary Magazines The Publishing of a Poet: An Empirical Examination of the Social Characteristics of Canadian Poets as Revealed in Small Press Literary Magazines by Diane Monique Barlee B.A., University of Victoria, 2008 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Sociology ! Diane Monique Barlee, 2011 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee The Publishing of a Poet: An Empirical Examination of the Social Characteristics of Canadian Poets as Revealed in Small Press Literary Magazines by Diane Monique Barlee B.A., University of Victoria, 2008 Supervisory Committee Dr. Richard Ogmundson (Department of Sociology) Supervisor Dr. Peyman Vehabzadeh (Department of Sociology) Departmental Member Dr. Iain Macleod Higgins (Department of English) Outside Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Richard Ogmundson (Department of Sociology) Supervisor Dr. Peyman Vehabzadeh (Department of Sociology) Departmental Member Dr. Iain Macleod Higgins (Department of English) Outside Member This thesis is an exploratory examination of the social characteristics of 139 poets featured in a selection of five small press Canadian literary journals. The investigation charts and analyzes the demographics of 64 poets who were published in 1967, and 75 poets who were published in four small press literary magazines in 2010. The 2010 magazines were purposely sampled as representatives of specific geographical areas in Canada (i.e., the West Coast, the Prairies, Central Canada, and the East Coast). The results indicate that in 1967 female poets were less likely to be published; however, 43 years later, this bias has been rectified. Another notable difference between the two groups of poets is that in 1967 ethnic minorities were more likely to be published. Educational achievement was an important factor for both the 1967 and 2010 poets, as was location, occupation and editorial duties. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee.......................................................................................................ii! Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iii! Table of Contents ...............................................................................................................iv! List of Tables......................................................................................................................vi! List of Figures ...................................................................................................................vii! Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... viii! Chapter 1. Introduction........................................................................................................1! 1.1 Rationale for this Thesis............................................................................................2! 1.2 Research Questions ...................................................................................................2! 1.3 Research Approach....................................................................................................2! 1.4 Research Methods .....................................................................................................3! 1.5 Structure of this Thesis..............................................................................................7! Chapter 2. Literature Review ............................................................................................10! 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................10! 2.2 Early Contributors ...................................................................................................10! 2.3 The Frankfurt School ..............................................................................................11! 2.4 Developments in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s ........................................................12! 2.5 Current Status..........................................................................................................14! 2.6 Contributions from Outside of the Field .................................................................17! Chapter 3. Canadian Literature ........................................................................................22! 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................22! 3.2 An Examination of the Data....................................................................................22! 3.3 A Summary of the Findings ....................................................................................25! Chapter 4. The Griffin Poetry Prize ..................................................................................26! 4.1 The Griffin Poetry Prize..........................................................................................26! 4.2 An Examination of the Data....................................................................................28! Chapter 5. The Malahat Review ........................................................................................30! 5.1 The Malahat Review................................................................................................30! 5.2 An Examination of the Data....................................................................................30! 5.3 A Summary of the Findings ....................................................................................33! 5.4 Subsequent Analysis ...............................................................................................34! Chapter 6. Prairie Fire......................................................................................................36! 6.1 Prairie Fire .............................................................................................................36! 6.2 An Examination of the Data....................................................................................36! 6.3 A Summary of the Findings ....................................................................................38! Chapter 7. Arc Poetry Magazine .......................................................................................40! 7.1 Arc ...........................................................................................................................40! 7.2 An Examination of the Data....................................................................................40! 7.3 A Summary of the Findings ....................................................................................43! Chapter 8. The Fiddlehead ................................................................................................45! 8.1 The Fiddlehead........................................................................................................45! 8.2 An Examination of the Data....................................................................................45! v 8.3 A Summary of the Findings ....................................................................................48! Chapter 9: An Overview of the 2010 Contributors Published in The Malahat Review, Prairie Fire, Arc, and The Fiddlehead..............................................................................49! 9.1 An Examination of the Aggregate Data ..................................................................49! 9.2 A Summary of the Aggregate Findings...................................................................51! Chapter 10. A Discussion of the Overall Findings............................................................52! 10.1 An Examination of the 1967 and 2010 Data .........................................................52! 10.1.1 Gender ...............................................................................................................52! 10.1.2 Race...................................................................................................................52! 10.1.3 Location.............................................................................................................54! 10.1.4 Education...........................................................................................................55! 10.1.5 Occupation ........................................................................................................56! 10.1.6 Previous Publications ........................................................................................58! 10.1.7 Editorial Duties .................................................................................................58! 10.2 Is Academia to Blame for the Decline in Poetry Readership?..............................59! Chapter 11. Conclusion, Limitations and Recommendations ...........................................63! 11.1 Conclusion.............................................................................................................63! 11.2 Limitations and Recommendations.......................................................................64! 11.3 A Postscript ...........................................................................................................66! References .........................................................................................................................69!
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Introduction
    Introduction Imagine you’re invited to a party. You arrive at the venue, slip past security, and Margaret Atwood is there; so are Michael Ondaatje, Anne Carson, and Dionne Brand. CanLit’s luminaries surround you, and having never brushed elbows with so many prominent writers, you turn paparazzi and start taking photographs in earnest. Point and click—easy to tell who monopolizes the spotlight and who falls back. It’s only once you focus manually, looking for an unconventional angle, that you begin to notice others: a younger, more anonymous crowd pushing at the margins, trying to bypass the guest list. So you raise your camera to include them too, at least those close enough to see clearly. Some of the shots will turn out perfectly—balanced composition, candid expressions that capture the palpable energy of the event. Some won’t. The blur of time will seep in, poor exposure rendering the photographs unusable. You might think I’m describing a Griffin Poetry Prize gala. I am, of course, but this is also the plight of prospective anthologists. Working without the benefit of hindsight, anthologists are responsible for scouting talent in little magazines, hard-to-find books, and critical periodicals. Canonization is a gamble, and time and time again Canadian editors have either gone all in or hedged their bets, offering up both generation defining compilations and remixed versions of established texts. With New Provinces, F.R. Scott curated 13 The Next Wave the first essential anthology of Canadian poetry in 1936. Providing a platform for future icons like E.J.
    [Show full text]
  • BIOGRAPHY of EMILY HAMPER "The Extremely Difficult Piano Part
    BIOGRAPHY OF EMILY HAMPER "The extremely difficult piano part was perfectly realized by Emily Hamper, a very authoritative accompanist throughout the concert." (Concertonet, Paris, January 2014) Emily Hamper has earned an excellent reputation for her exceptional skills as a vocal coach and accompanist. Singers from her coaching studio perform with major opera companies and symphony orchestras around the world. Within an international career spanning twenty years, she has worked as a rehearsal pianist, coach, and assistant conductor for many prominent opera companies and organizations. Highly sought-after as a collaborator for voice recitals, she has recently appeared in performance for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra’s “Virée Classique”, L'Opéra National de Paris, and Music Toronto. In January 2017 she partners baritone Phillip Addis in recital at the Canadian Opera Company. Other performances include recitals for the Queensland Music Festival (Australia), Calgary Opera, Festival Orford, Stratford Summer Music, and many other venues in Canada, the USA, and Europe. In 2011 she was awarded the Best Collaborative ​ Pianist Prize at the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition and accompanied thirteen ​ performances across Canada on the National Winner's Tour. Performances have been broadcast on CBC Radio, Radio-Canada, Classical 96.3 FM and Vermont Public Radio. Engaged as a répétiteur and official audition accompanist by Calgary Opera, l'Opéra de Montréal, Opera Atelier and Pacific Opera Victoria, Ms. Hamper was production director for a performance based on Manon at the Muskoka Opera Festival in 2013. Her genuine interest in ​ ​ new music has resulted in engagements with Soundstreams Canada and Tapestry Opera, the workshopping of a new opera with Manitoba Opera, and the commission of a cycle of four songs by composer Erik Ross and poet Zachariah Wells.
    [Show full text]
  • David Bottoms, Poet Laureate of Georgia Featured at Georgia Poetry Society 118Th Quarterly Meeting
    GEORGIA POETRY SOCIETY: SERVING GEORGIA’S POETS SINCE 1979 Volume 30, Number 2: Summer 2008 DAVID BOTTOMS, POET LAUREATE OF GEORGIA FEATURED AT GEORGIA POETRY SOCIETY 118TH QUARTERLY MEETING Come enjoy another exciting Other program highlights include the ever-popular program on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at member readings. Dr. Robert Simon will read from his new Kennesaw State University (KSU). We book of poetry, Jill Jennings will provide a workshop and the thank Dr. Robert Simon, faculty member Dr. Robert Lynn will unveil the GPS 2008 anthology, The at KSU and to the Department of Foreign Reach of Song. Languages and the College of Humanities Simon is Assistant Professor of Spanish at KSU. He has and Social Sciences for their support. taught both Spanish and Portuguese languages and has It is our good fortune to have as our investigated the presence of Surrealism, Mysticism and featured reader, David Bottoms, Poet Laureate of Georgia. postmodernism in Contemporary Peninsular Literature. He Bottoms was born in Canton Georgia in 1949. His first book, is widely published in several journals (The Reach of Song, Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump, was selected by The American Poetry Journal and The New York Quarterly) Robert Penn Warren as winner of the 1979 Walt Whitman and has a book of poetry, New Poems from the Airplane and Award of the Academy of American Poets. Bottoms’ poems Graveyard. He explains his poetry as “an exploration of the have been published in a wide variety of magazines that intimate connection between love, death, and the languages includes The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Paris that harness and define me as both a poet and a scholar.” Review and Poetry, and more than four dozen anthologies Jennings has won top awards from several poetry and and textbooks.
    [Show full text]
  • Spring 2011 Catalogue
    BIBLIOASIS SPRING 2011 2 NEW RELEASE: SHORT FICTION The Meagre Tarmac The Clark Blaise Meagre Tarmac First new collection of short fiction by master storyist in nearly twenty years. The Meagre Tarmac is master storywriter Clark Blaise’s first new collection of short fiction in nearly two decades. A suite of linked stories about the trials and tribulations of several generations of Indo-Americans, these are stories of great literary and sociological import. Grappling with the changing nature of race relations in post 9-11 America and the spectre (and reality) of terrorism, The Meagre Tarmac will serve to remind readers why Clark Blaise is one of the most important storywriters of his generation, a true North American treasure: this is vintage Blaise, stories straddling borders, clashing cultures and traditions, stories poverty, affluence, despair and hope, offering an outsider’s view of the changing heart of America that is both ruthless and profoundly moving. Clark Blaise PRAISE FOR CLARKE BLAISE: NOT FINAL COVER “A born storyteller … a writer to savor.” —The New York Times Short Fiction April “If we consider the full arc of his work, we see that for nearly fifty years he has been challenging the way that we understand the concept of 978-1-926845-15-9 place in contemporary Canadian and American literature.” 5.25 x 8.25 | paper | 200 pages —Essays in Canadian Writing $19.95 “Blaise’s portrayal of a dirt-poor South haunted by history belongs to an American literary tradition that includes Faulkner, Flannery MARKETING PLANS O’Connor and Eudora Welty.” —The National Post • 100+ ARC mailing • Appearances: Blue Met (Montreal), “More often than not, Blaise meets the high standard he has set for Toronto, Guelph, Ottawa, Windsor, himself.
    [Show full text]
  • Sidney Keyes: the War-Poet Who 'Groped for Death'
    PINAKI ROY Sidney Keyes: The War-Poet Who ‘Groped For Death’ f the Second World War (1939-45) was marked by the unforeseen annihilation of human beings—with approximately 60 million military and civilian deaths (Mercatante 3)—the second global belligerence was also marked by an Iunforeseen scarcity in literary commemoration of the all-destructive belligerence. Unlike the First World War (1914-18) memories of which were recorded mellifluously by numerous efficient poets from both the sides of the Triple Entente and Central Powers, the period of the Second World War witnessed so limited a publication of war-writing in its early stages that the Anglo-Irish litterateur Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-72), then working as a publications-editor at the English Ministry of Information, was galvanised into publishing “Where are the War Poets?” in Penguin New Writing of February 1941, exasperatedly writing: ‘They who in folly or mere greed / Enslaved religion, markets, laws, / Borrow our language now and bid / Us to speak up in freedom’s cause. / It is the logic of our times, / No subject for immortal verse—/ That we who lived by honest dreams / Defend the bad against the worse’. Significantly, while millions of Europeans and Americans enthusiastically enlisted themselves to serve in the Great War and its leaders were principally motivated by the ideas of patriotism, courage, and ancient chivalric codes of conduct, the 1939-45 combat occurred amidst the selfishness of politicians, confusing international politics, and, as William Shirer notes, by unsubstantiated feelings of defeatism among world powers like England and France, who could have deterred the offensive Nazis at the very onset of hostilities (795-813).
    [Show full text]
  • JOHN GLASSCO (1909-1981) and His Erotic Muse
    JOHN GLASSCO (1909-1981) and his Erotic Muse Leon Edel IΌΗΝ GLASSCO CULTIVATED THE LYRIC and erotic muses — Euterpe and Erato. He was, above all, in his later years, a tough-minded poet who mingled reflection with satire, and most of his reflections were on the wear- and-tear of life, the crumbling of man's creations, old houses — like the body — disintegrating in a mournful landscape, mixed with sweet and bitter memories and delicate observations; the triumph of the dust and yet somehow out of death and decay the hardness of reality : It is the world that counts, the endless fever And suffering that is its own and only end. The elegance and polish, rhythm and cadence, the perfect pitch, as it were, is curiously to be found also in his erotic writings which are largely in prose. John Glassco — he had been Buffy to us from his earliest years — made a distinction between "porno" written as art and that which is scribbled as commerce. Yet even when he attempted to write for commerce he proved unfailingly delicate and aristocratic: he wrote in the tradition of Cleland, or the Contes drolatiques, or the French elegants. He captured the spirit of the conte leste, the frivolous and "improper" fantasy, for which the Gallic world has so many more synonyms than we have. The phallus was for Buffy a wanton and pretty bird of flight and repose ; the libido an exquisite gift of nature. His erotic muse was forever young, born of pre-adolescent titillation and exposure. There are brief backward glances in various of Buffy's prose writings — "in view of my own upbringing" and "my own early memories supplied much of the psychology," and an allusion to "that susceptible teen-ager who could never say no to anyone." These brief autobio- graphical references allow us to extrapolate some early governess in Montreal's Simpson Street, where Buffy was born, who perhaps administered spankings that had erotic overtones; or some early housemaid taken with the charms of the juvenile Buffy — he had so many.
    [Show full text]
  • Proquest Dissertations
    UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Prize Possession: Literary Awards, the GGs, and the CanLit Nation by Owen Percy A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH CALGARY, ALBERTA JANUARY 2010 ©OwenPercy 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre inference ISBN: 978-0-494-64130-9 Our file Notre r6f6rence ISBN: 978-0-494-64130-9 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Nnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Epic Phase in Canadian Poetry
    E. J. PRATI: THE EPIC PHASE IN CANADIAN POETRY Edwin John Pratt ( 1882-1964) dominates Canadian poetry in the first half of the twentieth century and, therefore, he belongs, at least chronologically, toa generation of artists who wit­ nessed two world wars and who, as a result of this appalling experience, set asirle the youthful enthusiasm of the Romantics and the didactic impulse of the Victorians to voice the pes­ simism of the new age. In Europe, the echoes of the old faith in man's ability to achieve a more meaningful existence could still be heard, but the dominant mood was one of scepticism about the progress and future of mankind. Romantic and post-Romantic .poets had generally adopted the role of guides who could provide the right orientation for existence. The most in­ fluential modero artists, on the contrary, chose to highlight man's decadence and frustration Against this, The poetry of E. J. Pratt, seems to be more Romantic than modero because this Canadian artist is essentially optimistic about man's potential and celebrates progress, strength and resilience instead of brooding on life-destructive forces. To a great extent, the reason for this vitality and optimism is to be found in the social and political climate that dominated Canadian life in the frrst decades of this century. In an article entitled ''The 1920s: E. J. Pratt Transitional Modero", the critic Sandra Djwa contrasts the aftermath of World W ar I in Europe and the United States with the effects that the conflict produced in Canada and explains the reasons for the wave of optimism that pervaded Canadian society when peace was restored: In Europe and in the United States, the reaction to the war had been one of profound disillusionment.
    [Show full text]
  • INTERARTISTIC MODERNISM in CANADA, 1930-1960 Michèle
    BETWEEN THE LINES: INTERARTISTIC MODERNISM IN CANADA, 1930-1960 Michèle Rackham Department of English McGill University, Montreal November 2011 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Michèle Rackham 2011 for David TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT / RÉSUMÉ i-iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v-viii INTRODUCTION Contextualizing the Rise of Interartistic 1 Modernism in Canada CHAPTER ONE ―Not nature alone, but nature‘s relationship to man‖: 46 Emily Carr‘s and Dorothy Livesay‘s Landscapes of Affect CHAPTER TWO Montreal Modernisms, Little Magazines, and the 130 Agency of Visual Art in the 1940s CHAPTER THREE ―Let A- / tomic unsplittable REALITY / now at last / 225 be exploded to hell‖: The Energy of Canadian Modernist Poetry and Visual Art in the Fifties CHAPTER FOUR P.K. Page-Irwin‘s ―Geometry Awash‖: Negotiating 332 Modernist Aesthetics Via the Visual Arts CONCLUSION Canada‘s Interartistic Modernism and National Culture 430 WORKS CITED 450 Rackham i ABSTRACT This dissertation offers the first comprehensive examination of the diverse inte- ractions and collaborations among Canadian modernist poets and artists, as well as the aesthetic, thematic, and idiomatic relationships between their poems and works of art. The project incorporates archival and historical research to demon- strate the interartistic nature of modernist poetry in Canada between 1930 and 1960. By establishing that paintings, sculptures, and book designs and illustrations by Canadian artists who knew and worked closely with Canadian modernist poets informed and affirmed the content and aesthetics of the poetry, the dissertation argues for a consideration of the social dimension of literary modernism in Cana- da.
    [Show full text]
  • Canadian Jewish Writing Rebecca Margolis
    2 1 Across the Border: Canadian Jewish Writing Rebecca Margolis Canadian Jewish literature has often been compared to its U.S. counterpart, for both geographic and cultural reasons. The two countries share a vast bor- der, are former English colonies with a continual use of that language, and have signifi cant immigrant populations. The two countries absorbed signif- icant numbers of Jewish immigrants, including a mass Eastern European immigration that was Yiddish speaking and working class. The comparison between the two countries should be natural, at least from a Canadian per- spective. However, rather than being a mini–United States, Canada has pro- duced a literature that has evolved its own very distinctive set of defi ning characteristics. Further, the dominating presence of the United States and its overshadowing infl uence on Canada in terms of literature, theater, lm,fi and music are indisputable, and Canadian culture is oft subsumed into the larger category of “American.” Canada’s Jewish writers are confl ated with U.S. writ- ers or neglected altogether . Michael Greenstein’s study Third Solitudes sug- gests marginality as a key feature of Jewish Canadian literature. 1 Intertwining historical realities have informed Canada’s cultural identity and the literature that its Jewish writers have produced. The ideological foun- dation of the country is a French-English bilingualism that dates to its roots as a European colony, and the dynamics of that uneasy duality have permeated the country’s cultural development. Unlike the United States, Canada was not born out of revolution and rejection of the British Empire that dominated it.
    [Show full text]
  • CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES Light Shining out of Darkness / 7 E.F
    BIBLIOASIS WINTER 2018 —Ordering Information— For more information, or for further promotional materials, please contact: Daniel Wells Biblioasis Publisher 1520 Wyandotte Street East Phone: 519-968-2206 Windsor, ON N9A 3L2 Canada Email: [email protected] Orders: [email protected] Casey Plett www.biblioasis.com Phone: 519-968-2206 Publicity on twitter: @biblioasis Fax: 519-252-0008 Email: [email protected] Distribution: University of Toronto Press 5201 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON, M3H 5T8 Toll-free phone: 800 565 9533 / Fax: 800 221 9985 email: [email protected] Sales Representation: Ampersand Inc. HEAD OFFICE/ONTARIO/NUNAVUT Jenny Enriquez VANCOUVER ISLAND Suite 213, 321 Carlaw Avenue Ext. 126 Lorna MacDonald Toronto, ON, M4M 2S1 [email protected] 1333 Fairfield Road Phone: 416-703-0666 Victoria BC, V8S 1E4 Toll-free: 866-736-5620 BRITISH COLUMBIA/ALBERTA/YUKON Phone: 250-382-1058 www.ampersandinc.ca 2440 Viking Way [email protected] Richmond, BC V6V 1N2 Saffron Beckwith Phone: 604-448-7111 ALBERTA, MANITOBA & SASKATCHEWAN/NWT Ext. 124 Toll-free: 800-561-8583 Judy Parker [email protected] Fax: 604-448-7118 10 Hind Avenue Toll-free Fax: 888-323-7118 Winnipeg MB, R3J 2P4 Morgen Young Phone: 204-837-4374 Ext. 128 Ali Hewitt Fax: 866-276-2599 [email protected] Phone: 604-448-7166 [email protected] [email protected] Laureen Cusack QUEBEC/ ATLANTIC PROVINCES Ext. 120 Dani Farmer Jenny Enriquez [email protected] Phone: 604-448-7168 Phone: 416-703-0666 Ext. 126 [email protected] Toll Free 866-736-5620 Vanessa Di Gregorio Fax: 416-703-4745 Ext. 122 Jessica Price [email protected] [email protected] Phone: 604-448-7170 [email protected] Evette Sintichakis Ext.
    [Show full text]
  • Sung Poetry in the Oral Tradition of the Gulf Region and the Arabian Peninsula
    Oral Tradition, 4/1-2 (1989): 174-88 Sung Poetry in the Oral Tradition of the Gulf Region and the Arabian Peninsula Simon Jargy Historical Background As far back as we can go in the past history of the Arabs and Arabia, we fi nd poetry present as a huge memorial to their real and imaginary heroic exploits, as a witness to their way of life and feelings, and most of all as an expression of the deepest roots of their soul. Being essentially oral in its origins and developments, this poetry, with its rhythms, intonations, accents, and long or short syllables fi tted in quite naturally with music. In the old classical Arabic terminology, poetry (Shicr) identifi es with song (Nashīd): reciting it is synonymous with singing it (Anshada al-Shicr). This bond between Shicr (poetry) and Inshād (chant or recitative) still has the same meaning in the spoken Arabic of the Peninsula and the Gulf region where Nishīda (song) is synonymous with Giṣīda (poem). In pre-Islamic Arabia, Inshād likely had a dual function: religious and social. Both stem from the rhythmical syllables of the Arabic language (rhymed prose: Sajc, and metrical poetry: Shicr), as well as from rhythmical movements of camels. Coming from ancient times, this is the Ḥidā’ (literally “stimulating the camel’s step”) that the Bedouin sings following the steps of his camel and for his own entertainment. It has survived in the actual form we call “recitative” or “cantilena,” as the common Ḥadwā still designates, in the spoken Bedouin dialect of the Gulf, the folk songs of both the desert and the sea.
    [Show full text]